Strong Horse Racing Stat

The below is a newish section fromThe Mathematician’s very comprehensive daily racing message.

He calls it the Strongest Statisic Today

In short it points to something interesting found

through his research.

Some days it may point to a horse to think about backing.

Other days it may be a strong stat that could lead you to opposing a short priced favourite.

=====================

S t r o n g e s t   S t a t i s t i c  T o d a y

Uttoxeter 2.10

VICTORIA ROSE 10/1

Another Positive Statistic today. I dont expect her
to win rated lower than most of her rivals but she is
a double figure price and comes out curiously well so
I wouldnt put anyone off having a small interest bet.

* All Mares Novice Chases run in January
* Horses from Handicap Hurdles
* Between 7 and 20 career starts
* Running over 19f or more last time
* Between 1 and 4 runs that season
* There were 8 horses with that profile
* They finished W 2 W W W W W W
* VICTORIA ROSE  shares that profile

www.mathematician-betting.co.uk

PS price has come in a  bit since Mathematician Members got this earlier today. Now best priced 9/1 at VC

.

Each Way Betting Explained

Each Way Betting. What is Each Way Value?

What really makes a good each way bet?

Firstly lets just re-iterate exactly what an each way bet is. It’s
a bet traditionally offered by UK bookmakers consisting of two separate
bets: a win bet and a place bet. For the win bet to give a return the
selection must win, for the place bet to win the selection must either
win or finish in one of the predetermined places, i.e. 2nd
or 3rd. Your stake for an each way bet will be the same on
both parts, so if you bet “£5 each way”, you are betting £5 win
and £5 to place – a total of £10.

Ok so that’s the simple stuff out of the way.

Now let’s talk value.

Betting at value is essentially placing a bet at bigger odds than what
the true chances dictate the odds should be. Of course finding out what
the true chances of something happening are and therefore the relevant
odds isn’t an exact science. Therefore it simply comes down to a matter
of finding “perceived value”.

So with an each way bet we need to evaluate both the win odds AND the
place odds to get an idea of how the prices stack up against our ideas
of a value price.

Opportunities arise with each way betting because the place price offered
against a horse is a fixed fraction (normally 1/5 or ¼) of its win
price, and so may bear little or no relation to its actual chance of
being placed.

There are general misconceptions that
say that betting each way at odds under 5/1 represents a poor bet. And
often horses quoted around 25/1 are touted as great each way bets, on
the basis that the place pays around 5/1.

I’m going to suggest to you that ANY price can represent each way value.

Whether its 10/1 or 10/11.

The calculation that most people do before placing an each way bet is
to work out their returns should the horse only place. So a horse placing
at 4/1 (1/5 place odds) would give a return of £9 from a £5 each way
bet – a loss of £1 overall.

To look at this potential loss in isolation is to look at each way betting
from a narrow and blinkered angle.
This is an entirely wrong perspective in my opinion.

You see lets assume that the horse in question is actually a true 4/1
shot, and therefore it’d win one in every 5 runnings of the same race
on average.

Buts lets also assume that there is very little else other than the
first three in the betting with any real form. And therefore that it
would place on average 80% of the time.

Finding 10 bets like this could easily give the following results from
£5 each way bets:

4/1 unplaced -£10

4/1 3rd -£1

4/1 2nd -£1

4/1 Won +£24

4/1 2nd -£1

4/1 2nd -£1

4/1 unplaced -£10

4/1 3rd -£1

4/1 2nd -£1

4/1 Won +£24

Total P/L +£22

Remember this is a true 4/1 shot, so it would only ever be a break even
situation betting win only. But because of the favourable place terms,
we’ve turned a break even series of bets, into a winning one.

Of course finding horses that have about 80% chance of placing yet can
be backed at 4/1 each way do not come up everyday, but they do come
up more often than you might think.

Two obvious places you might find instances where the place odds make
each way betting favourable are 8 or 9 runner races with an odds-on favourite and 16 runner handicaps.

The principle is the same whatever the race though. It is comparing
the each way place price against the actual chances that will reveal the true value of an each way bet.

Paul Ruffy –

—————————————–

Paul Ruffy is a respected horse racing advisor
specialising in each way betting on uk horse racing.

Visit his site for more info

Click Here ==> Visit Paul’s Site

—————————————–

.

Four Winning Saturdays In A Row?

Guy aka The Mathematician has given us three winning Saturday’s in a row here on Sports Betting Blog.  At circa start of Octover he also went on a short run of an 18/1 winner followed by a 6/1 winner.

Four in a  row is a big ask however.

Fingers crossed :)

Here is his free tip message for today.

============================

I like LOYALTY’s chance a lot mainly because he
has a good profile but also because I can tear holes
in the profiles of many of his opponents. The big
problem here is a big field and the desperate need
for luck in running and there are no guarantees of
that and this makes him unsafe and far more riSky.

Friday’s  Full Service Review

Overall a pretty spicy message yesterday given time was
lost with the Racing Post website going down. I ended up
with 14 races to sort out. There were 4 of these that we
broke level in through either savers or each way bets and
they just cancelled each other out. That left 10 races and
there was a clear victory with 5 winners and 5 losers lots
better than I had hoped for. This included a 10/1 winner
so well ahead on paper and overall a good message which
shows my angles work and also shows the more you read
from the message the richer the experience should be.

L i n g f i e l d  1.50

3/1 Mabait, 9/2 Spirit Of Sharjah, 5/1 Clockmaker
6/1 Loyalty, 8/1 Night Lily, Kakatosi, 12/1 Bravo Echo
12/1 Elna Bright, 16/1 Mr Willis, 25/1 Layline
66/1 Mister Green.

* This is an all aged conditions race over a mile
* Quality race but only 18 similar races are run
* I think you have to look at the Draw here
* I looked at 8f Lingfield races with 10 + runners
* The last few races went to the following stalls
* 8 6 5 8 12 7 11 10 2 8 3 10 3 7
* I think the worst stalls have to be 1-2-3
* The last 8 winners were drawn 5 or higher
* MABAIT is Top rated but I see interesting flaws
* He has fewer runs this year than every other runner
* All exposed horses had more runs this year than him
* All horses from 7f races also had more runs
* MABAIT is exposed and comes from 7f
* Dont feel he is equipped to do that with 4 runs this year
* LAYLINE comes out badly with his absence
* ELNA BRIGHT – Doesnt appeal from a 6f race
* KAKATOSI looks unsafe to me
* He has just 1 run since last July and was thrashed in it
* Throw in a step up in distance he looks opposable
* MISTER GREEN is outclassed
* MR WILLIS comes out badly and is badly weighted
* For an exposed horse up in trip he is underraced
* SPIRIT OF SHARJAH wouldnt be first choice
* Not exposed and with 1 run since last June
* SPIRIT OF SHARJAH also has a bad draw in stall 1
* NIGHT LILY wouldnt be my first choice
* I think Stall 2 wont do her any favours
* She is also a Mare and comes from a conditions race
* BRAVO ECHO – Not a negative but doesnt offer much

S h o r t l i s t

* CLOCKMAKER – I see him as shortlistable but unsafe
* He comes from 7f and winning last time troubles me
* The only horse winning at 7f last time was younger
* I think there are flaws in his profile but he’s in form
* Not keen on his draw much in stall 3
* LOYALTY – Very nice profile 3 similar winners
* He is well drawn and has easily the best profile
* Will need luck in running but a clear choice

Selection

* LOYALTY 6/1 Each Way Bet365 Stan James

To visit Guy’s site click here ==> Horse Racing Tips

.

Hedging An Each Way Double

The following is a snippet from today’s message from Big Mike.
Big Mike is an ex accountant who know lieks to use his knowledge of numbers to take cash of the bookmakers.

His followers get daily messages with an array of strategic bets on both horse racing & sport.
The following snippet I thought posting up here as it is an educational piece you can learn from showing you how to hedge an each way double.

More from Big Mike at ===> BIG MIKE BETTING

=========================================

Hedging An Each Way Double

The best way of showing how to play a hedge is with an actual example.

AWESOME FOURSOME

4 x £4 ew doubles

Tarn Hows 5/2 & Real Milan 8/1 12.05 Uttoxeter
with Remix 7/2 & Lady Lyricist 12/1 350 Wolves

Stakes of £40 at Bet365 ‘Best Odds’

In the first race Real Milan managed to win at 12/1 and Tarn Hows was
placed at 5/2.

So in effect because of the price of the winner in the first race we had
£52 running on the win side of both Lady Lyricist and also Remix.

I emailed all members as we had to protect this vast windfall. Neither of
the two horses were expected to win so we had to retrieve something in
order to live another day.

The first thing to do is to work out how much would be won if either of the
doubles would have landed. At 7/2 the Remix double would have produced app
£180 and if Lady Lyricist had obliged we were talking well over £1,000.

So we had plenty of oil in the tank. My initial suggestion was to retrieve
stakes at least by laying £4 pre start on each horse back to Betfair. I
then suggested placing mines (lays in running) and in fairness to Remix a
good return was made as the horse was laid down to 2.02 on the win site.
Lady Lyricist was last seen in the middle of Wolverhampton at 9pm last
night so nothing back from her save the initial £4 lay.

On the place site it was a different kettle of fish as Remix – at 7/2 – in
effect gave 1.7 return if placed yet was layable at 1.28 before the start.
Similarly Lady Lyricist at 28/1 would be the equivalent of 6.6 on the place
site yet again layable at a considerable advantage at 3.2. At a stroke both
horses could have been laid at least for £26 (Half the gross bet) and the
cost would have been app £7 on Remix and just over £70 on Lady Lyricist. It
may seem a lot to hedge but consider that the place return if successful
from Remix would have been £35+ and on LL the place return at SP would have
been £250+ – so there was much to save.

Always remember that these huge doubles are rarely going to land – so
evasive action is a must.

Follow The Flag To The Payout Counter

Our usual Saturday installment from Guy at www.mathematician-betting.co.uk

Can he make it three profitable Saturday’s in a row?

—————————

Weather affected day and It’s Southwell that has
the most coverage as the only card that was safe.

I’m surprised an 11f handicap produces my best bet but
the 2.55pm may be best left to FOLLOW THE FLAG
a horse I have being saying for a while was well treated
and looking at his last run I think he needs this distance.
Decided against putting him up as a bet because I know
my angles in 11f handicaps are awkward and messy and
there is every chance a non runner killed my each way
options. I do see FOLLOW THE FLAG as my best bet.

S o u t h w e l l   2.55

7/2 Royal Swain, 7/2 Stanley Rigby, 9/2 Sail Home
6/1 Ostentation, 6/1 Rajamand, 10/1 Follow The Flag
10/1 Hits Only Jude, 12/1 Magic Echo.

This is an 11f Handicap for 0-75 rated horses. This is a
nightmare distance to sort out statistically as I have said
countless times before. I have few 11f races to work with
but I ran all these horses through some statistical tests to get a shortlist.
The horses with long absences struggled a bit and fell short.
So did the horses that were well beaten over 12f last time.
There are stamina doubts to consider with horses like HITS ONLY JUDE.
In the end I felt the most promising profiles were both FOLLOW THE FLAG
and SAIL HOME and whilst neither looked brilliant I can at least find a winner
like both which is a reasonable start. I have flagged up FOLLOW THE FLAG 4
times recently as well handicapped and he may well be able to win over this distance.
He appeals most with Sail Home the horse I fear the most. I could have SAIL HOME
as the saver in the race but I’d rather bet FOLLOW THE FLAG E/W as
I think he looked like he was crying out for a slower and
longer surface last time at Lingfield. He only just coped
with a faster track at a Mile but stayed on very well late
in the race and I think he could well take this race today.

Selection

FOLLOW THE FLAG 11/2 Ladbrokes – Sporting Bet  Each Way

.

Trends For Cheltenham

3.05 Cheltenham – International Hurdle – 2 miles 1f (Grade 2)

POSITIVE TRENDS

Favourites (inc. joints): There have been 7 winning favourites (including joints) from 11 for a profit of £4.69 (ROI +42.6%).
Position LTO: Horses that won LTO have provided 6 of the last 10 winners.
Position LTO: All of the last 10 winners finished in the first three LTO.
Recent wins: All of the last 10 winners had won at least once in their last four starts (this stretches back to the last 17 renewals).
LTO course: Horses that raced at Cheltenham last time out have a good record producing 6 winners from 20 for a profit of £33.79 (+169%). Indeed focusing on the runners that raced in the Greatwood Hurlde LTO this improves to 5 wins from 11 for a profit of £40.42 (ROI +367.4%).

NEGATIVE TRENDS

Beaten distance LTO: Horses that were beaten by 5 or more lengths LTO have provided 0 winners from 23.
Position LTO: Horses that finished 4th or worse last time out have produced 0 winners from 16 qualifiers.

GENERAL STATS

Age: 4 years olds have won 2 races from 15 qualifiers (SR 13.3%),5 year olds have won 4 races from 15 qualifiers (SR 26.7%); 6 year olds have won 1 race from 9 qualifiers (SR 11.1%); 7 year olds have won 2 races from 14 qualifiers (SR 14.3%); 8 year olds and older have won 1 race from 16 qualifiers (SR 6.3%).

Trends analysis: the best starting point looks to be horses that finished in the first three LTO as they have provided all of the last 10 winners. From there, look for horses that have won at least once in their last four starts. Horses that ran at Cheltenham last time out have a good record, especially those that ran in the Greatwood hurdle LTO.. Favourites also have a very good record. From a negative perspective, horses beaten by 5 or more lengths LTO look worth avoiding. In terms of age, 5 year olds have done well.

Provided by www.RacingTrends.co.uk

Chepstow Racing Tip

A good effort from Guy last week in the Hennessy with each way advised Planet Of Sound coming 2nd.   It was particulary sweet for those who followed the highlighted race offer from Betfred as

#1 Their best odds guantee paid out the 14/1 Starting price not the 12/1 early price

#2 The offer on that race returned the win bet stake if your horse finished second.

See Hennessy Gold Cup

On to today and other free racing tip from Guy.

Interesting one this as it demonstrates the use of each way at shortish odds.

Most mug punters only consider each way if the place returns a net profit on a bet. eg 5/1 plus or more is a typical mug punter cut off point for each way.

Mathematically however such an idea is not correct.

Short odds horses can be great value each way in the right circumstances.

To visit Guys site click here ==> Betting Advice

=============================

C h e p s t o w  1.30

2/1 Curtain Razer, 9/4 Knock A Hand, 7/2 Rojo Vivo
7/1 Diamond Sweeper, 14/1 Gores Island
16/1 Caulfields Venture, 33/1 Finnegan Paddy
33/1 The Bear Trap, Wheres Wal, Chesil Beach Boy
40/1 Le Chasse Spleen, Young Jim, Caught Inthe Light
66/1 Malin Head, 100/1 Waywood Princess
200/1 Radmores Sam Evans.

* This is a 2m 4f Novice Hurdle
* ROJO VIVO comes from a Bumper last year
* Not a good enough profile to go with him
* The 5yo’s doing that best had 1-2 runs and he has 4
* Not a negative but there are better profiles
* DIAMOND SWEEPER – Unsafe despite the above profile
* He hasn’t yet achieved enough
* GORES ISLAND – Very weak profile
* CAULFIELDS VENTURE – Not enough I like
* CURTAIN RAZER didnt impress me statistically
* I looked at 5 year olds from Novice Hurdles
* One career run and One that season
* There were 3 winners with that profile
* These 3 winners all came from 2m races though
* Those however from 17f or more were 0-70
* Could be a statistical blip but he fails that
* CURTAIN RAZER is opposed

Selection

KNOCK A HAND Each Way 3/1 +

* KNOCK A HAND looks the safest choice
* Unorthodox profile aged 6 winning a maiden hurdle
* I found 2 horses with his profile and one of them won
* KNOCK A HAND has a better profile than the rest

When KNOCK A HAND won last time over 2m 4f on
Heavy ground it was his sires first National Hunt winner
on soft or heavy ground over 2m 4f. I am hoping that’s
something he can repeat. If he can’t then horses with a
weaker profile like Curtain Razer and Rojo Vivo will go
on and win. If he can repeat that and he does truly get
the trip on the ground then he has the strongest chance.
In a nicely framed race he looks the percentage call e/w.

* KNOCK A HAND 10/3  BoyleSports William Hill  Each Way is my selection

.

Free Horse Racing Tip For Newmarket

The following comes from Guy over at the Mathematician site

For more free advice from him see ==> free horse racing tips

=============================================

N e w m a r k e t 5.00

(8) GOLDEN DESERT 18/1

Each Way Bet

* Do not mix the name up with another horse
* Another horse in the same race has a similar name.
* The bet is Number 8 on the card Golden Desert

I’ve gone with GOLDEN DESERT and He is one of
those bets that you know is unsafe but his price does
compensate for that. He is knocking in a bit aged 7
and hasn’t won for 2 years and it’s not hard to see a
couple of younger horses beating him. That said it’s
a race with a lot of good negatives. There are some
very good reasons why he might win this race. I see
promise in his last run where I flagged him up before
the race at 20/1. He ran well last time and although
I wouldnt have tipped him at 8/1 the 18/1 is far too
big as is the 20/1 on Betfair so going with him today.

N e w m a r k e t 5.00

Betfred The Bonus King Handicap
(CLASS 2) (3yo+ 0-100) 7f

4/1 Asraab, 13/2 White Frost, 8/1 Bonnie Brae
8/1 Golden Delicious, 10/1 Lutine Bell
12/1 Axiom, 12/1 Mr David, 14/1 Elna Bright
14/1 Gallagher, 16/1 Citrus Star, 16/1 Mia4s Boy
16/1 Woodcote Place, 20/1 Golden Desert
25/1 Space Station, 25/1 Striking Spirit.

* This is a 0-98 handicap over 7 furlongs
* Newmarket has had 22 similar races at this time of year
* There has been 68 similar races at other tracks
* I think the Draw Shows you want a Middle Draw
* I would be worried about horses drawn very low
* I would also be worried about horses drawn very high
* I predict the winner will be drawn between 3 and 14
* STRIKING SPIRIT is not well drawn in Stall 16
* I didnt like him profile at all exposed from 6f
* Not without a recent race
* STRIKING SPIRIT is statistically weak
* ASRAAB could have been better drawn in stall 15
* ASRAAB only has 1 run this season
* Horses doing that in 68 races had a 1-19 record
* That winner was a completely different type
* ASRAAB has a long absence as well and only 3 runs
* Its an Unsafe profile and not a great draw
* I’d be a Fool to discount him from Godolphins
* As an option in this race he doesn’t really appeal
* WHITE FROST has a bad draw in Stall 1
* I dont like his profile from a 3yo handicap either
* There were 4 winners doing this
* Those with Under 7 runs that season were 0-48
* WHITE FROST has just 4 runs and I see him as weak
* WOODCOTE PLACE has a bad draw in Stall 14
* I looked at Exposed horss in 68 similar races
* Those with 1-2-3-4-5 runs that year were 0-43
* WOODCOTE PLACE has only 4 runs and is 8 years old
* No exposed horse aged 6 won without at least 6 runs
* WOODCOTE PLACE has to be underraced this year
* MIA4S BOY also looks underraced this year
* He is 7 and has had just 4 runs this season
* ELNA BRIGHT won a 5f handicap last time
* More than happy to oppose him doing that
* Especially as an exposed 6 year old and he looks wrong
* AXIOM is 7 and only 2 winners were as old
* I looked at all exposed horss aged 6 or more
* Those without Pattern Class form won just 5 races
* Most of these had more runs that season than him
* None of these carried more than 9st weight as well
* AXIOM has a difficult task from Topweight
* GALLAGHER is very well treated these days
* There is a doubt about what he can achieve these days
* Recently changed stables he ran ok last time
* He is underraced this year though
* Exposed horses from 6f or shorter struggled
* Those that won were rare and all had far more runs
* GALLAGHER falls short for me
* Fillies dont have a great record in these races
* None were absent as long as BONNIE BRAE
* BONNIE BRAE looks wrong as a filly absent 63 days
* Winning last time with that absence worries me
* BONNIE BRAE doesnt offer me enough
* GOLDEN DELICIOUS is a 3yo filly
* These 3yo fillies have a poor record and he isnt for me
* SPACE STATION is an exposed 5yo
* Statistically he is generally fine with no weak areas
* The only question remains has he got the class
* There are some factors that worry me
* SPACE STATION has a career high mark
* He has only ever won in a Class 4 race before
* He needs to produce a career best by some way
* All his wins come on sharp tracks as well
* MR DAVID is an unexposed 4yo from 7f
* All 4 year olds with 9-20 runs doing this were 3-83
* Those without a run in 2 weeks were just 1-44
* That winner had much less weight than he does
* None had raced in Group class before like him
* I Dont fancy him but there are better negatives
* Wouldnt be a complete shock but not for me

S h o r t l i s t

* CITRUS STAR is an unexposed 4yo from 7f
* All 4 year olds with 9-20 runs doing this were 3-83
* Those with 13-20 runs like him were only 1-59
* All 3 of these unexposed winners were different
* Troubles me he only has 5 runs that season
* I’d like more and I cant match him exactly to a winner
* CITRUS STAR is respected and shortlistable
* I did struggle to find enough I liked

* LUTINE BELL is an exposed 4yo from 7f
* He has Class 2 form and no higher
* I found 4 winners that had that profile in 68 races
* LUTINE BELL was 2nd last time in a tough race
* That was a career best performance
* He has to repeat that today but should go well
* A couple of things worry me
* I think he has plenty of weight for his profile
* There is a chance his last run was a falsely run race
* The 1-2-3 all came from behind that day
* They may have benefitted from the pace of the race
* I wasnt overkeen he has just 1 race in the last 59 days
* Shortlistable but not completely convinced

* GOLDEN DESERT is a worrying aged at 7
* That said we had 2 horses winning aged 7
* Both were very well raced that year like him
* Both ran well last time in 7f handicaps like him
* I flagged him up as very interesting last time out
* Go back a year and he was 2nd here in a similar race
* That run would win this and he is 9lbs lower today

SELECTION – GOLDEN DESERT 18/1 Eachway at BoyleSports & William Hill

See full market odds at http://mathematician-betting.bestbetting.com/horse-racing/2011-09-24/newmarket/17-00/betting/

.

First Time Blinkers

First Time Blinkers

With the flat season gathering pace, I have decided to look at horses that are blinkered for the first time. There are numerous ideas why horses are given blinkers to wear.

These include:

-         To try and get the horse to concentrate as some horses get distracted by the other runners in a race;

-         To help the horse break quickly from the stalls. Blinkers often have this effect when worn for the first time;

-         As a last resort to try and improve a horses’ performance.

What one should realise however, is that generally fitting first time blinkers is a negative rather than a positive. The data for this article is taken from the last 6 complete seasons – flat/all weather racing only. All profits are calculated to £1 level stakes at SP. It should be noted that I have included only runners that are wearing blinkers only (for the first time) – I have excluded runners who were wearing tongue ties also. For the record the combination of blinkered first time + tongue tie produce virtually identical strike rates and returns (from a much smaller sample).

Firstly let us look at the results of all runners wearing blinkers for the first time on the flat over the period of study:

Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
441 6336 7% -£1748.87 -27.6

Essentially therefore these runners win around once in every fourteen starts (roughly) for losses of just under 28 pence in the £. Not a great starting point from a betting perspective. However, let us break these stats down into different categories to see if we can either find better betting propositions, or ‘gilt-edged’ laying opportunities.

Age

The perception is that blinkers improve younger horses best, especially 2yos. Let us look at the results breakdown when split by age:

Age Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
2 85 1197 7.1 -£433.73 -36.2
3 185 2755 6.7 -£928.06 -33.7
4 93 1378 6.8 -£344.38 -25.0
5 46 539 8.5 +£68.41 +12.7
6 19 261 7.3 -£80.13 -30.7
7 5 127 3.9 -£66.00 -52.0
8 or older 8 79 10.1 +£35.00 +44.3

As we can see 2yos actually perform below the ‘norm’. Looking at the ages as a whole, there is no discernable pattern, although much older horses (8yo+) have done relatively well from a very small sample.

Digging deeper into the 2yo stats, I have broken down the data by number of career runs:

Career starts Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
debut 4 53 7.5 -£29.00 -54.7
2nd career start 4 110 3.6 -£46.00 -41.8
3rd career start 4 155 2.6 -£98.50 -63.5
4th career start 23 261 8.8 -£127.41 -48.8
5th career start 17 215 7.9 -£10.50 -4.9
6th career start 11 170 6.5 -£87.81 -51.7
7th or more 22 233 9.4 -£34.50 -14.8

Two things that seem to stand out here are firstly that 2yos that have raced several times (7 or more), react to first time blinkers relatively well; secondly 2yos that are assigned blinkers on their 2nd or 3rd career start do extremely poorly in terms of strike rate. My guess is that there is an over-reaction to a poor debut run and the addition of blinkers actually makes things worse.

Market position

Generally the market is an excellent guide to the chances of each horse. Let us look at first time blinkered horses coupled with their market position:

Market pos Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
Favourite 85 334 25.5 -£51.82 -15.5
2nd favourite 78 437 17.9 -£70.06 -16.0
3rd favourite 55 510 10.8 -£154.50 -30.3
4th in betting 47 532 8.8 -£99.50 -18.7
5th in betting 39 567 6.9 -£139.00 -24.5
6th or bigger 43 621 6.9 -£34.00 -5.5
7th or bigger 94 3335 2.8 -£1,200.00 -36.0

At first glance the performance of favourites looks OK. However, when we take ALL flat favourites as a whole, the strike rate is around 30-31% with losses of only 6-7%. Hence, horses that start favourite when blinkered for the first time are not good betting propositions.

Race types

Let us break the data down now by specific race types:

Race type Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
Amateur races 2 57 3.5 -£43.25 -75.9
Claimers 42 482 8.7 -£7.43 -1.5
Group/Listed 9 194 4.6 -£79.75 -41.1
Handicaps 246 3653 6.7 -£1,010.10 -27.7
Maidens 73 1023 7.1 -£426.17 -41.7
Sellers 34 569 6.0 -£204.38 -35.9

Although the data is limited a combination of first time blinkers and an amateur rider looks one to avoid. Indeed of the 55 losers, only 3 got placed. I decided to look back further just to gather a bigger data set. I looked at first time blinkered runners in amateur contests from 1997 to 2004 – they fared poorly once again with just 3 wins from 104.

Maiden races have seen losses of around 42 pence in the £ which above the base figure of 27.6p. Auction maidens have provided the poorest results for first time blinkered runners with just 12 wins from 279 (SR 4.3%) for a loss of £151.06 (ROI -54.1%). Indeed, 2yo maiden Auction races are even worse with just 3 winners from 160 runners (SR 1.9%) for a hefty loss of £129.50 (ROI -80.9%).

Claiming races have seen close to a break-even situation despite a low strike rate of around 9%. Indeed if you exclude maiden claimers the strike rate rises to 9.3% and profits are made; albeit 9 pence profit for every £ wagered. However, it should be noted that these profit figures are essentially down to a few big priced winners and hence it is not an area where the backer can be confident to make a profit in the future.

Race distance

Let us break the data down now by race distance:

Race type Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
5-6f 139 2134 6.5 -£718.29 -33.7
7-8f 160 2270 7.0 -£583.43 -25.7
9-10f 58 876 6.6 -£225.05 -25.7
11-12f 61 694 8.8 -£128.31 -18.5
13f+ 23 362 6.4 -£93.80 -25.9

In general there does not seem to be any pattern here. I had expected longer races to produce slightly poorer results but this is not the case.

Turf v all weather

Surface Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
All weather 203 2480 8.2 -£454.92 -18.3
Turf 238 3856 6.2 -£1293.95 -33.6

Horses wearing blinkers for the first time perform better on the all weather compared with turf. This could be due to the fact all weather racing is less competitive; or generally of lower grade. Whatever the reason, the stats are worth taking note of.

Jockeys

I decided to see if the experience of the jockey made a difference. The table below compares professional jockeys with claiming jockeys:

Jockey Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
professional 374 4914 7.6 -1127.87 -23.0
claiming 67 1422 4.7 -£621.00 -43.7

The figures seem to suggest the less experienced jockeys struggle when horses are blinkered for the first time. Losses close to 44 pence in the £ combined with a strike rate of under 5% means that one should swerve these jockeys under these circumstances.

Trainers

Some trainers have a better understanding of their animals than others so one would expect a real mix of results for first time blinkered runners. I have included all trainers that have saddled at least 30 horses with first time blinkers:

Trainer Wins Runs Strike Rate% Profit/loss ROI%
Sir M Prescott 11 51 21.6 +£27.40 +53.7
B Smart 5 30 16.7 +£0.50 +1.7
C Cox 6 37 16.2 +£8.90 +24.1
I Semple 5 34 14.7 -£5.63 -16.5
R Charlton 5 35 14.3 -£9.13 -26.1
G Butler 5 36 13.9 +£19.00 +52.8
R Hannon 16 129 12.4 +£0.50 +0.4
M Tregoning 4 33 12.1 +£33.00 +100.0
R Harris 8 68 11.8 +£47.75 +70.2
J Boyle 4 34 11.8 +£1.00 +2.9
T Barron 6 54 11.1 -£12.00 -22.2
M Easterby 9 85 10.6 -£20.75 -24.4
C Brittain 6 57 10.5 -£12.38 -21.7
W Haggas 7 67 10.5 -£13.00 -19.4
J Moore 5 49 10.2 +£12.25 +25.0
M Johnston 12 118 10.2 +£1.58 +1.3
P Cole 9 89 10.1 -£29.25 -32.9
J Dunlop 6 61 9.8 -£11.67 -19.1
K Ryan 14 144 9.7 -£7.38 -5.1
P Grayson 6 64 9.4 -£17.05 -26.6
J Gosden 7 75 9.3 -£17.17 -22.9
B Meehan 15 161 9.3 +£8.08 +5.0
N Littmoden 4 44 9.1 -£17.50 -39.8
J Osborne 4 46 8.7 +£10.00 +21.7
G L Moore 6 72 8.3 -£24.38 -33.9
B Hills 3 36 8.3 +£15.00 +41.7
M Quinlan 3 36 8.3 -£18.50 -51.4
P Evans 4 50 8.0 -£8.50 -17.0
T Easterby 10 131 7.6 -£11.75 -9.0
E Johnson Houghton 2 31 6.5 -£6.00 -19.4
W Muir 4 64 6.3 -£35.75 -55.9
B Ellison 2 32 6.3 -£9.00 -28.1
M Dods 2 32 6.3 -£11.50 -35.9
Mrs A Perrett 4 67 6.0 -£30.00 -44.8
R Fahey 4 71 5.6 -£35.50 -50.0
E Dunlop 2 44 4.6 -£36.00 -81.8
R Beckett 2 50 4.0 -£20.00 -40.0
M Tompkins 2 57 3.5 -£43.50 -76.3
M Jarvis 1 30 3.3 -£25.00 -83.3
I McInnes 1 34 2.9 -£29.50 -86.8
P Blockley 1 35 2.9 -£30.00 -85.7
R Millman 1 37 2.7 -£8.00 -21.6
J Bradley 0 66 0.0 -£66.00 -100.0
A Berry 0 50 0.0 -£50.00 -100.0
J Given 0 41 0.0 -£41.00 -100.0
J Eustace 0 31 0.0 -£31.00 -100.0
J Weymes 0 30 0.0 -£30.00 -100.0

Sir Mark Prescott has excellent figures considering how poor these runners do in general – a better than 1 in 5 strike rate with profits of over 50 pence for every £ wagered. At the other end of the scale, Milton Bradley and Alan Berry have combined to produce 0 winners from 116 runners.

——————–

To conclude, horses blinkered for the first time are essentially poor investments. However, some are much worse than others as this article has hopefully highlighted. If nothing else, I suspect this article may save you from backing certain horses that have a very poor chance of winning. This should help your betting bank balance.

Dave Renham

=============================

Dave Renahm is a regular feature writer in the Racing And Football Outlook newspaper.  If you are more of an investor rather than gambler at your racing, more of his educational research work may be found online at www.PunterProfits.com and at www.racingtrends.co.uk

HINT: Both sites above will on occasion offer a free trial to sports betting blog subscribers. Why not Register Here for Free so you know when such a deal is available.

Saturday Racing Lays

The racing trends lay service had a good day yesterday.

13 lays suggested and 13 horses turned over.

Since the start of the year total profit figures on these lays is circa 99 points.

That includes Betfair commission and is based on BSP odds.

The 99 points is based on laying them just to win.

Laying them to place as well is a very viable extra option.

See the post below with long term spreadsheet etc.

Lay Sreadsheet Staking Plans

I popped a few up here last weekend and both were unplaced.

One from this method for  today is

Haydock 4.10 Royal Rock

PS Subtle Hint:

1 – Register for my own blog here http://www.sports-betting-blog.co.uk/register/

2 – Contact Me http://www.sports-betting-blog.co.uk/contact-me/ and ask me if as a subscriber to sports betting blog I can wrangle for you a free trial of Racing Trends :)